Karjan farmer planted fruits of cold region in the warm climate of Vadodara district

Vadodara office of the state horticulture department has also taken note of his experiment

Farmers' entrepreneurship, experimentation and agricultural skills always give new dimensions, results and crops. Due to this, in dry and mostly sandy region like Kutch, saffron is grown and in Jamnagar district, exotic dragon fruit is cultivated. Farmers in North Gujarat have tried to grow saffron and the specialty is that even if they fail once or twice, these farmers do not back down in their efforts without getting frustrated.

Apples are thus the crop of cold regions like Himachal Pradesh. The idea of ​​growing it in the hot climate of Gujarat seems funny at first sight. However, Girish Patel, a farmer from Vemar village in Karjan taluka make it happen and not one or two but about 220 apple trees have grown to a height of 5 to 7 feet in his farm. He planted these Himalayan trees in Gujarat in January 2019.

Avoiding the dilemma of how a crop from region with a cold climate can grow in a hot region like Vadodara and Gujarat, he said that the Horticulture Research Institute of Himachal Pradesh has developed an improved variety which can be grown experimentally in 18 states including Rajasthan and two from South. In Gujarat, a horticultural entrepreneur from Kutch has grown these apples without getting frustrated by the failure of the first attempt and inspired by him, Girish has done this experiment in Vadodara district. He contacted an organization in Himachal Pradesh to get the seedlings and it recommended to buy apple trees from the organisation in Jaipur, Rajasthan. Thus, he got certified plants at low transportation costs.

In the second year of planting, that means in 2020, when these plants began to flourish and then bear fruit, he was pleasantly surprised and believed that the experiment would be successful. However, the advisory body advised Girish to pluck the flowers and fruits immediately as they mature only three years after leaving.

Now in 2022, when the plant matures, the fruits can be harvested. So the people of Vadodara who ate apples from Shimla should now be ready to eat Vemar apples.

The apples of this variety of Harman 99 are yellow-pink in colour and sweet in taste.

He bought 300 plants for planting at a cost of about Rs. 300 per plant, including transportation costs. He planted it in place of the discarded eucalyptus, but as many

as 80 plants were damaged and he contacted the organization. They said that if water accumulated around the trunk of the plant it would die. Since the crop was mostly suited to sloping soils, Girish formed ridges, avoiding waterlogging around the trunks and as a result, about 220 plants are growing today.

The family of Girish Patel has a thriving stationery business in Karjan. Yet he is attached to the land and at a time when other farmers are selling lands for cash, he has increased the allotted 18 bighas of land to 22 bighas.

He have planted 300 Kesar mango trees, cultivated Eucalyptus successfully since 2003, Pink gooseberry has been grown and the first crop of which will be available this year.

He said about not doing traditional farming like cotton, tuwer but instead there are bushes in his fields and he only cultivate trees. He says that this farming is as profitable as traditional farming and the effort is less.

Due to Girish's agricultural adventure, Vadodara will get to eat Vemar apples. It may not be as big and delicious as the apples of Shimla, but it is a pleasure to eat the fruit grown in our area.

The state Horticulture department also take note of his experiment. They will try to give the benefit of the incentive scheme of the Government of India to the farmers who take new crops like apples. Yogeshbhai, Horticulture Officer, Office of the Deputy Director of Horticulture, Vadodara, visited the farm of Girish when he came to know about apple cultivation in Vemar and congratulated him for the new experiment.

He said that apple is not the prevalent fruit crop of Gujarat so it is not included in their horticulture promotion schemes. But with the inclusion of a wide range of fruit crops in the Government of India's National Sustainable Agriculture Scheme, new crops such as apples are expected to benefit farmers.

As the cluster of this scheme includes Vemar including Kurali and Dhavat of Karjan taluka, they are exploring the possibility of providing incentive benefits under this scheme.